Sales into large fleets, including sales into dealer and manufacturer fleets, decreased 0.4% month over month in May to 154,047 units, according to an early estimate from Cox Automotive released June 6.
Combined sales into large rental, commercial, and government fleets decreased nearly 20% from May 2021. Sales into government fleets were up 5.9% year over year while commercial fleets were down a fraction at 0.1% year over year. Meanwhile, rental fleet volume remains extremely low, down 33% from last May.
Total May new-vehicle sales were 1.105 million, down 30% from last year with two fewer selling days than May 2021, with an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales near 12.7 million, hitting a low point of the year.
Retail sales were down slightly more at 31%, leading to an estimated retail SAAR of 10.9 million, down nearly 27% from last May’s 14.8 million pace and down 13% from last month’s 12.5 million level.
After including dealer and manufacturer fleet sales, the total fleet share of all sales was 13.9%, up from last May’s fleet share of 12.2%, due to weakness in retail sales.
Among manufacturers, GM and Stellantis both saw gains over last year while Toyota saw large declines.
